Competition Focus

The Paris 2024 Olympic Games diary


The Paris 2024 Olympic Games are here. This is our daily guide as to how the FC Barcelona’s sportspersons get on at the Olympic Games, one of the major sporting events in the calendar that runs through to August 11. 

Here is a list of the blaugranes at the Games: 

ATHLETICS: Jordan Díaz
BASKETBALL: Álex Abrines, Willy Hernangómez, Darío Brizuela
HANDBALL: Gonzalo Pérez de Vargas, Aleix Gómez, Javi Rodríguez, Jonathan Carlsbogard, Hampus Wanne, Blaz Janc, Dika Mem, Melvyn Richardson, Emil Nielsen, Carlos Ortega
FOOTBALL: Cata Coll, Jana Fernández, Irene Paredes, Ona Batlle, Aitana Bonmatí, Alexia Putellas, Patri Guijarro, Vicky López, Salma Paralluelo, Pau Cubarsí, Fermín, Eric Garcia

Sunday 11 August

Men’s handball: Spain 23-22 Slovenia
Gonzalo Pérez de Vargas, Aleix Gómez and Javi Rodríguez are bronze medal winners as Spain edged Slovenia and Blaz Janc to claim a position on the podium. Gonzalo Pérez de Vargas made nine saves, while Aleix Gómez scored five out of five attempts, as did Blaz Janc for Slovenia.

Men’s handball: Germany 26-39 Denmark
Emil Nielsen made three saves as he and Denmark comfortably beat Germany in the final. Another gold in the final event with blaugrana representation of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

This is the final day of the Paris Olympic Games and the closing ceremony at 9pm CEST will include blaugrana Jordan Diaz as the flag bearer for Spain.

Saturday 10 August

No Barça athletes in action today, but the handball comes to a conclusion tomorrow on the final day of the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Friday 9 August

Women’s football: Spain 0-1 Germany
It wasn’t to be for the Spanish women’s team as Germany claim the win and the bronze medal. The Germans went ahead from the penalty spot and the Spaniards had the chance to equalise deep into added time, also from the spot, but keeper Berger saved Alexia’s penalty.

Men’s handball: Germany 25-24 Spain
Another victory for Germany against Spain sees the Spaniards have to settle for a bronze medal challenge against either Slovenia or Denmark. Germany edged this very close match after the scores were level with 10 minutes to play. Gonzalo Pérez de Vargas made 10 saves, while Aleix Gómez and Javi Rodríguez scored three and one goals respectively.

Men’s football: France 3-5 Spain (AET)
Fermín, Cubarsí and Eric are gold medal winners, as Spain defeated the home side in a pulsating match that went to extra time after France scored a late equalising penalty in added time. Fermín scored another brace in his 73 minutes on the pitch, while the two defenders played the full 120 minutes to see Spain to victory.

Men’s triple jump
Jordan Diaz has won gold for Spain! His first jump of the final of 17.86m proved to be enough to claim the top prize, just 2cm longer than rival Pedro Pichardo from Portugal’s best jump in second.

Men’s handball: Denmark 31-30 Slovenia
Emil Nielsen made 8 saves as his side edged through to the final at the expense of Blaz Janc’s Slovenia in a game ultimately decided by just a single goal. It means Denmark will now face Germany for gold, while Spain and Slovenia will battle it out for bronze.

Thursday 8 August

There are no Barça athletes in action today. But there’s a lot happening on Friday, with the women’s football team playing for bronze against Germany, the men going for gold against hosts France, blaugrana interest among three of the four handball semi-finalists and Jordan Díaz competing in the triple jump final.

Wednesday 7 August

Men’s handball: Spain 29-28 Egypt
Gonzalo Pérez de Vargas, Aleix Gómez and Javi Rodríguez are through to the semis following an absolute humdinger of a finale against Egypt with Gómez scoring right at the end before a fabulous save from MVP Gonzalo.

Men’s handball: Germany 35-34 France
France started this quarterfinal well, but Germany forced overtime with two goals in the last minute of normal time, before going on to win the tie. Dika Mem top scored for France with 10 goals, but both he and Melvyn Richardson now say goodbye to the tournament.

Men’s handball: Denmark 32-31 Sweden
Blaugrana teammates on both sides in this quarterfinal meaning someone was going to see their Olympic participation end. Another close game saw Emil Nielsen (4/18 saves) and Denmark win through, with Jonathan Carlsbogard & Hampus Wanne, scoring 3 and 5 goals respectively, falling just short with Sweden.

Men’s handball: Norway 28-33 Slovenia
Blaz Janc and Slovenia are into the semi-finals with the blaugrana scoring nine goals to book a place in the last four against Denmark. 

Athletics
Triple jumper Jordan Díaz qualified comfortably for the final on August 9 (scheduled for 8:13pm CEST). His personal best of 18.18 metres set this season sees him in good form to challenge for the gold medal.

Tuesday 6 August

Women’s football: Brazil 4-2 Spain
The blaugrana contingent in the Spain’s women squad saw their dream of gold go up in smoke after a defeat to Brazil in the semi-final of the tournament. The South Americans took a 3-0 lead in the second half and despite two late goals from Barça’s Salma Paralluelo, it will be Brazil who face the USA for gold in the final. The Barça players in the squad still have the chance to claim a medal however, as they will face Germany for the bronze on Friday at 3pm CEST. 

Monday 5 August

Men’s football: Morocco 1-2 Spain
Fermín Lopez scored one of the goals as Spain came from behind to defeat Morocco and a place in the men’s football Olympic final against France. It was almost as if Spain were the away side in a stadium packed to the rafters with Moroccan fans in Marseilles, and the North Africans took the lead through a Soufiane Rahimi penalty on 37 minutes. But Fermín coolly slotted home an equaliser early in the second half, before assisting Juanlu Sanchez as the Sevilla man grabbed a late winner. Pau Cubarsí and Eric García of Barça also played the full 90 minutes in the middle of the Spanish defence.

Sunday 4 August

Men’s handball: Sweden 40-27 Japan
Jonathan Carlsbogård and Hampus Wanne (four goals) helped Sweden to a big win over bottom-placed Japan to book their place in the quarterfinals.

Men’s handball: Germany 36-29 Slovenia
Blaz Janc scored three goals, but already qualified Slovenia ended up losing the game, and currently remain in third place in group A.

Men’s handball: Denmark 32-25 Norway 
Barça keeper Emil Neilsen made 15 saves in the win against Norway. 

Men’s handball: Hungary 20-24 France
Dika Mem and Melvyn Richardson helped France to a win in their group game.

Men’s handball: Spain 32-31 Croatia 
Spain top their group with a nail biting win with Aleix Gómez and Javi Rodríguez scoring 13 goals between them. 

Saturday 3 August

Women’s football: Spain 2 Colombia 2 (4-2 pens.) 
Epic victory for the Spanish team as they trailed Colombia 2-1 in their quarter final into the seventh minute of injury time at the end if the second half when Barça Women’s Irene Paredes came up with a dramatic equaliser. After a goalless period of extra time, the blaugrana contingent came up with the goods again in the penalty shoot out. Goalkeeper Cata Coll made a crucial stop and Salma and Aitana both scored their penalties to send the team through to the semi-finals.

Friday 2 August

Men’s handball: Denmark 28-25 Hungary
That’s a quarter final place wrapped up for the Danes with a 100 per cent record, and they chose not to even play the Barça keeper in this one, resting him for the big matches to come.

Men’s handball: France 28-21 Argentina
France have kept their qualification hopes alive by comfortably beating Argentina, and it’s looking like a straight head to head between themselves and Hungary, who they meet on the final day of group play.

Men’s handball: Sweden 38-27 Croatia
Such an important win for Jonathan Carlsbogård and Hampus Wanne’s Sweden. From being on the verge of elimination they are right back in the mix and will expect to seal qualification by beating winless Japan on the final day.

Men’s handball: Germany 33-31 Spain
Gonzalo Pérez de Vargas, Aleix Gómez & Javi Rodríguez all featured for Spain as they were edged out by the now-qualified Germans. The Spaniards remain in the final qualifying spot for the quarterfinals and have their destiny in their own hands as they face fifth placed Croatia in the crunch final group game on August 4.

Men’s football: Japan 0-3 Spain
Spain are comfortably through to the semifinals after this comprehensive win in Lyon over Japan. Pau Cubarsí, Eric Garcia & Fermín López all started the game, with the latter putting in a lively performance and grabbing a brace during his 83 minutes on the pitch.

Men’s basketball: Canada 88-85 Spain
Abrines, Brizuela & Willy Hernangómez all put in strong performances as Spain came up against a Canada side featuring many NBA players. Brizuela top scored for Spain with 17 points but ultimately all their efforts fell short as Spain are out of the tournament.

Men’s handball: Japan 28-29 Slovenia
A very close match saw Blaz Janc’s Slovenia seal their place in the quarterfinals with their third win in the group, while Carlos Ortega’s Japan side say farewell to the tournament.

Thursday 1 August

There is plenty going on in Paris today, but none of the Barça athletes are in action.

Wednesday 31 July

Women’s football: Spain 2-0 Brazil
Spain had already qualified, but today also wrapped up top spot in the group with second half goals from Atenea del Castillo and Alèxia Putellas (an immense 17 minutes into injury time). Cata Coll, Patri and Ona Batlle all started from the Barça contingent, while Aitana, Alèxia and Salma all came on for the second half.

Men’s handball: Slovenia 29-24 Sweden
Joy for Blaz Janc, who dazzled with ten points, and defeat for Carlsbogard and Wanne, with 2 and 6 goals each.

Men’s handball: Spain 37-33 Japan
A strange situation for Perez de Vargas and Aleix Gómez to have their usual club coach Carlos Ortega in charge of the opposing side. And especially in the first half Japan looked very strong indeed, eventually going down by four goals.

Men’s handball: Denmark 38-27 Argentina
A comfortable win for Nielsen’s side with the Barça goalkeeper impressing with his 16 saves. 

Men’s handball: France 26-26 Egypt
A last second goal from Ludovic Fabregas means that the hosts are still alive in the competition, but without a win to their name, things are getting very tricky. Dika Mem scored 4 and Melvyn Richardson got 3.

Tuesday 30 July

Men’s football: Spain 1-2 Egypt
Despite being already through to the quarterfinals, Spain were looking to seal top spot in Group C. However, it wasn’t to be due to a loss in this match featuring heavily rotated line ups. While Pau Cubarsí was suspended and Eric Garcia was rested, Fermín did get on in the second half (min 63). Spain’s next opponent is likely to be Japan, and the date and time of the match is August 2, kick-off 5.00pm CEST.

Men’s basketball: Spain 84-77 Greece
Spain have compensated for opening day defeat to Australia with a massively important victory over Greece. Barça’s Àlex Abrines (8 points), Willy Hernangomez (11) and Darío Brizuela (3) all made contributions. Now it all comes down to Friday’s game with Canada, starting at 5.15pm CEST, to see whether they can progress to the knockout stage.

Monday 29 July

Men’s handball: Sweden 29-26 Spain
Barça’s Jonathan Carlsbogard and Hampus Wanne starred in Sweden’s win over a Spain side that contained their team mates  Gonzalo Pérez de Vargas, Aleix Gómez and Javi Rodríguez,

Men’s handball: Egypt 27-30 Denmark: Slovenia 31-29 Croatia 
Barça keeper Emil Neilsen was in action as the Danes too the win thanks to a dominant first half performance. Team mates Blaz Janc and his Slovenia side edged to victory over neighbours Croatia ahead of a meeting on Wednesday with Jonathan Carlsbogard and Hampus Wanne’s Sweden. 

Men’s handball: France 22-27 Norway
It’s all going wrong for the host nation and Dika Mem and Melvyn Richardson, because they’ve lost both of their opening matches. Mem’s impressive ten goals weren’t enough to save his team from another disappointment. 

Sunday 28 July

Women’s football: Spain 1-0 Nigeria 
Barça’s Alexia Putellas scored the winner just five minutes before the end to guarantee Spain a place in the quarter final place with their third group game still to come next Wednesday against Brazil. Cata Coll, Paredes, Ona Batlle, Aitana, Alexia and Salma all started with Patri Guijarro making an appearance as a substitute. 

Saturday 27 July

Men’s handball: Denmark 37-29 France: Germany 30-27 Sweden 
Emila Neilsen’s Denmark claimed a win over hosts France and team mates Dika Mem and Melvyn Richardson before defeat for Sweden’s Jonathan Carlsbogård and Hampus Wanne against Germany. 

Men’s football: Dominican Republic 1-3 Spain 
Spain maintained their 100% record with a comfortable win over a Dominican Republic side who were reduced to 10 men at the end of the first half. Blaugrana Fermín López scored the opener in the first half with Pau Cubarsí and Eric Garcia also in the starting line up. Cubarsí picked up a yellow card and will be suspended for Spain’s final group game against Egypt on Tuesday. 

Men’s basketball: Australia 92-80 Spain
A losing start for Abrines, Hernangómez and Brizuela against an Aussie side packed with NBA talent that could have a lot to say in this competition.

Men’s handball: Spain 25-22 Slovenia
Gonzalo Pérez de Vargas, Aleix Gómez and Javi Rodríguez featured as Spain got their handball campaign off to a winning start against Janc’s Slovenia. The Barça keep made some huge saves and Gómez led to goalscoring with seven.

Friday July 26

No sports featuring blaugrana representation today, but the 2024 Olympic Games got started with the official opening ceremony that this year came uniquely from a non-stadium venue, namely the River Seine.

Thursday July 25

Women’s football: Spain 2-1 Japan
A Spain side that was massively based around FC Barcelona players, with seven blaugrana starters today, has got off to a fine start in the Olympics by coming from behind to beat former world champions Japan. Aitana Bonmatí played a starring role by scoring the equaliser, and then a quite fantastic move involving herself and Mariona led to the second goal.

Wednesday July 24

Men’s football: Uzbekistan 1-2 Spain
Pau Cubarsí, Fermín and Eric García all started for Spain as they got their gold medal challenge off to a good start by defeating Group C rivals Uzbekistan at the Parc des Princes.

The Paris Olympic Games are finally set to start for the 25 FC Barcelona sportspersons! The official opening ceremony is on July 26, but two sports commence today. One of those is men’s football, which features blaugrana representation in Pau Cubarsí, Fermín and Eric García.



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